Lighthouse Reports

lighthousereports.comSyria’s Stolen ChildrenUnder the Assad regime, hundreds of Syrian children were hidden in orphanages to extort their parents. Families still have few answers from the new government or the international charity that kept it...

11 Sept 2025

When Assad’s security state collapsed, locked doors opened, spilling decades of secrets. Among them: 100s of stolen children, hidden in orphanages & used to blackmail parents. We’ve done the deepest dive yet into this cruel system. Here’s what we found 🧵 www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

Exposed: Big Food’s 239 lawsuits against life-saving policies Our investigation, #BigFood vs The People reveals how food giants use tobacco-style legal tactics to challenge public health regulations around the world. www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

ftm.euA refined strategy: how Europe’s industry lobby managed to block sugar taxesAcross Europe, plans for sugar taxes are being shelved, existing levies watered down, or scrapped altogether. Behind these political decisions lies a recurring pattern: food and soft drink companies d...

@ftm.eu reveals how European governments face legal threats and industry pressure even before laws are passed. Several countries have struggled to introduce taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages. www.ftm.eu/articles/ind...

cuestionpublica.com¿Qué hay detrás de la lonchera de tus hijos?Exceso de azúcar y un negociazo para los partidosCasi una veintena de demandas para tumbar los impuestos saludables y el etiquetado frontal; 15 proyectos de ley para regular alimentos ultraprocesados en la última década frustrados, principalmente, p...

In Colombia, @cuestionpublica.com found the industry supplied 40% of all political-party donations in 2022. The newly-elected president used a Kellogg’s cereal cartoon tiger as his symbol. cuestionpublica.com/que-hay-detr...

apublica.orgBig Food: Como indústria impediu regulação de publicidade no BrasilExigências de alertas sobre açúcar, gordura e sódio foram desidratadas, levadas aos STF e seguem sem efeito há 16 anos

In Brazil, some lawsuits dragged on for nearly 20 years. Most were filed by industry associations, which experts said keeps valuable brand names untainted. @apublica.org explains their impact on health regulation apublica.org/2026/07/o-po...

ojoioeotrigo.com.brComo a indústria alimentícia impediu a regulação da publicidade no BrasilNorma da Anvisa criada para exigir alertas sanitários em anúncios de alimentos ricos em açúcar, gordura e sódio foi desidratada, judicializada e segue sem efeito há 16 anos…

@ojoioeotrigo.bsky.social reveals how over half of the suits in Brazil targeted the health regulator, leading to its slow decline. ojoioeotrigo.com.br/2026/07/como...

santacruzlocal.orgA decade ago, a soda tax effort fizzled in Watsonville. Advocates blame Big Beverage. - Santa Cruz LocalAn investigation by Santa Cruz Local and Lighthouse Reports examines strategies by beverage companies to fight soda tax in Santa Cruz County

⅔ of US adults are overweight, and the #MAHA movement helped propel Trump to the presidency. Yet soda companies still fight taxes on sugary drinks. Santa Cruz Local found that the industry recruited Black and Latino leaders to lobby against such taxes in two cities.

ilfattoalimentare.itBig Food contro la salute pubblica: inchiesta internazionaleUn’inchiesta internazionale coordinata da Lighthouse Reports ricostruisce le strategie di Big Food contro le politiche di salute pubblica

Ferrero may be famous for its chocolates, but L’Espresso and @ilfattoalimentare.bsky.social analyse the reasons for its less palatable lawsuits around the world, and their roots in Italian agroindustry. ilfattoalimentare.it/big-food-con... lespresso.it/c/inchieste/...

thewire.inIndia Is Delaying Front-of-Pack Food Labels – and Consumers Are Paying the PriceThe FSSAI has gone back on its own plans to introduce regulation around this – and that proposed regulation too was seen as going easy on the packaged food industry.

In India, @thewire.in explains how the government stalled food-transparency regulations for a decade. Health influencers such as foodpharmer took it upon themselves to inform consumers about unhealthy food products - and they were sued. www.instagram.com/p/CzyZCASLyx... thewire.in/food/india-i...

quintoelab.orgMéxico, el campo de batalla de la industria de alimentos ultraprocesadosMolesta por las crecientes regulaciones gubernamentales a los refrescos y la comida chatarra, la industria global ha emprendido un férreo combate en los tribunales. En México se libra el 80 por ciento...

80% of the lawsuits we found were in Mexico, targeting food transparency rules, many failed. Quinto Elemento Lab found companies argued warnings “demonised” their products. One Pepsi bottler argued in court that soft drinks were better than water in some rural areas. quintoelab.org/project/mexi...

Read more from our partners Quinto Elemento Lab, @ojoioeotrigo.bsky.social, @apublica.org, @ftm.eu, @cuestionpublica.com, @thewire.in, Santa Cruz Local, L’Espresso, @ilfattoalimentare.bsky.social, @theguardian.com

theguardian.com‘If all else fails, sue’: how ultra-processed food firms are using the courts to obstruct health rulesExclusive: Global investigation reveals 235 lawsuits have been brought against governments in five countries since 2010

These lawsuits are harming our health. Learn more in this analysis featuring expert interviews from @theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Experts say these tactics resemble those long used by the tobacco industry. Nutrition expert @marionnestle.bsky.social told us: “Food companies are well trained. They follow the tobacco industry playbook to the letter. When all else fails, sue.”

Unhealthy diets are projected to cost the world US$3 trillion annually by 2030, with vulnerable communities bearing the heaviest burden. Read “Big Food vs The People,” published in eight countries alongside an upcoming academic paper.

Companies sometimes tried to hide their names. Of the cases brought by identifiable companies, more than one in three were linked to just 9 parent groups, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and confectionery giant Mondelez.

Governments were forced to spend years defending measures intended to protect public health. Big Food lost more than 80% of the cases examined. But losing does not mean the lawsuits had no effect: legal challenges delayed the implementation of some public health measures for years.

Between 2010 and 2025, at least 239 lawsuits were filed against public health policies in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the US, India, and the UK. Food companies lost most of the time, but these cases add up to an extraordinary 595 years of litigation.

lighthousereports.comAsylum by AlgorithmThe UK has turned to AI to determine the age of asylum seekers, and other countries are likely to follow suit. Our investigation finds the technology is deeply unreliable.

Britain will use AI to assess ages of asylum seekers in a world-first, with other countries likely to follow suit But our investigation, based on a leaked report and our own algorithmic audit, finds the technology is deeply unreliable

independent.co.ukHome Office knew AI age checks for migrants were flawed — but will roll it out anywayExclusive: Government advisors describe the tool as ‘hideously flawed’ amid concern facial age estimation has ‘baked-in racial bias’ — and can wrongly identify a 14-year-old as an adult

Read the stories in @the-independent.com

wired.comThe UK Will Scan Asylum-Seekers’ Faces for Age Checks—Despite Knowing the Tech Is FlawedInternal Home Office tests of age-verification technology show the risks of life-altering errors. It’s moving forward anyway.

and @wired.com

Separately, our audit of publicly available data on the age estimation tech of German company Cognitec, which the UK has contracted to provide the tool, finds it misclassified more a third of 16-year-olds as adults, and performed significantly worse on people from African countries

foxglove.org.ukFoxglove, Human Rights Watch and 60 other organisations write open letter to Government condemning Home Office border tool aimed at asylum-seeking childrenThis open letter has been prepared by Foxglove and Human Rights Watch. A full list of signatories can be found at the bottom of the page.

Two ex-scientific advisors to the Home Office have spoken out for the first time, saying they weren't consulted on the plans & have grave doubts Meanwhile an open letter to the Home Office by @fox-glove.bsky.social, @hrw.org & more calls for a halt to the rollout

Last month, the UK Home Office announced it would use age estimation technology to crack down on small boat arrivals 'posing as children' We can now reveal its own internal report found the tech often assesses minors as adults — and performs worst for nationalities arriving in the largest numbers

lighthousereports.comLessons from Local News w/ M. Lothian-McLean, J. Mori & P. PrasannaFrom the UK to India and the Brazilian Amazon, we spoke with journalists who are making it work.

15 June

“People are looking to their own backyards a bit more. The whole point of local news is that you can make local politics decipherable and comprehensible to people on the street and you can make them feel like they know what's actually going on.”, Lothian-McLean, Mill Media

lighthousereports.comLessons from Local News w/ M. Lothian-McLean, J. Mori & P. PrasannaFrom the UK to India and the Brazilian Amazon, we spoke with journalists who are making it work.

15 June

Are audiences turning to local news? From the UK to India to the Brazilian Amazon, we spoke to the journalists making it work Listen to the new #Backlight episode: www.lighthousereports.com/lessons-from...

lighthousereports.comThe Visa Empire: Borders as a BusinessOutsourcing giant VFS Global has made huge profits by exploiting people around the world whose ‘weak’ passports require them to apply for visas to travel

Most European citizens will likely never have heard of VFS Global. But across much of Africa, Asia + the Middle East, the visa giant has become notorious Our investigation finds VFS has made huge profits by exploiting people with 'weak' passports

This was a collaborative effort involving @indianexpress.com, @rfi.fr, Actualite.cd, @spiegel.de, @twalainfo.bsky.social, @lesreportersn.bsky.social, @initiumnews.nzcow.com, @lemonde.fr, @kisadalgamedya.bsky.social, @news24southafrica.bsky.social, The Nation Nigeria, Nation Africa, @politico.eu

CALL-OUT: If you have experienced or witnessed aggressive upselling practices or other poor practices by VFS or other visa outsourcing companies, we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at vfs@lighthousereports.com

We also uncovered evidence that VFS customers are sometimes pushed towards external agents soliciting bribes due to problems with VFS's appointment booking system, and that the company repeatedly mishandles applicants' personal data

Hundreds of pages of internal documents show European govts that outsource visa administration to VFS are well aware of the problems – which sometimes amount to breaches of its legal obligations – but have failed to take meaningful action

Through FOI disclosure, financial records, source interviews + data analysis, we found that VFS – which is contracted by 71 govts to carry out visa administration – routinely misleads + pressures applicants to buy costly services that should be optional

Sales of extra services have become central to VFS’s business: our analysis of 2K+ Swedish visa applicant receipts from 16 countries indicates they account for 30% of its revenue The company's operating profits have surged from €31m to €172m in 7 years

lighthousereports.comBig Food vs The People - ColombiaLifting the veil on the unhealthy food lobby in Colombia

Every year, bad diets kill millions of people and cost trillions of $. The world’s largest food companies say they want to be part of the solution. But behind closed doors, companies lobby governments to derail public health laws.

In Colombia, where over half the population is overweight, diseases linked to unhealthy diets cost an estimated €1.3 billion a year. Members of Congress voted on health policies including a tax on ultra-processed foods and sodas. The industry pushed back, read on @cuestionpublica.com

Dream team with @andrearincon24.bsky.social @edierabeh.bsky.social @thinink.bsky.social @emmanfre.bsky.social

lighthousereports.comBig Food vs The People - ColombiaLifting the veil on the unhealthy food lobby in Colombia

Our new investigative series, “Big Food vs The People,” rolling out over the next few months will lift the curtain on what’s going on behind the scenes.

With @cuestionpublica.com we begin in Colombia, where companies producing unhealthy food are attempting to influence the presidential elections of 31st May.

lighthousereports.comNo Exit from El Fasher“No Exit from El Fasher” is an intimate look at the survival of civilians who lived through an unimaginable monthslong siege and final dayslong assault on the Sudanese city of El Fasher in North Darfu...

In October 2025, the RSF seized El Fasher, killing thousands in days in one of the deadliest massacres of Sudan’s civil war. For a new documentary, Lighthouse and @aljazeera.com Fault lines traveled to Uganda to hear survivors’ stories. www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

youtube.comEncircled, starved and killed: The siege of Sudan's el-Fasher | Fault Lines DocumentaryYouTube video by Al Jazeera English

Watch the full documentary www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuDB...

sudanwarmonitor.comتحقيق: إعادة بناء تحقيق أحداث الفاشرناجيين من الأحداث: لم يكن هناك مخرج من الفاشر سوى خندق الموت ؛الترتوار؛

Read the write-up in Sudan War Monitor sudanwarmonitor.com/p/4cc

@amnesty.org 's Janine Morna told us “There was a time before the takeover of El Fasher where so much could’ve been done to save lives. As an international community we couldn’t even provide the most basic of protection.”

The RSF built a berm around the city, trapping people inside. We reviewed hundreds of satellite images captured between April and October 2025, mapped the construction of the berm around El Fasher.

Abulgasim is a citizen journalist. He told us “Sometimes I would be the first person to find the wounded and people killed by bombs. Sometimes I’d find an entire family that was killed. No one left.”

Halima Abdallah fled El Fasher with her 4 children in December 2024. In May 2024, Halima’s 7 year old daughter went outside to use a public toilet and was attacked by RSF soldiers.

Ruqaya escaped El Fasher on foot. During the siege the RSF killed 12 members of her family. Her 21 year old son is still missing.

lighthousereports.comHow can the media win back our trust?Trust in traditional media is in crisis. This is what media leaders are doing about it.

6 May

“When readers don't like a story or they have a problem with it, or they're just sort of skeptical, they tend to click on the byline. The most important innovation in this new bio was our ethics statement. So even just stating it up front had a huge impact.”, Ed Lee, former NYT Trust Editor.

lighthousereports.comHow can the media win back our trust?Trust in traditional media is in crisis. This is what media leaders are doing about it.

6 May

In the latest #Backlight episode, Beatriz and Tessa talk to industry experts about the crisis of trust in the media and what can be done about it. Listen to the episode.

lighthousereports.comRethinking journalism awardsEveryone loves to win awards. But what does it mean to reward good journalism?

17 Apr

“There are a lot of things we don't see because they have not been submitted or that we might not be able to appreciate because people have not known how to articulate the value of their work.” Patrick Boehler, founder of Gazzetta.

lighthousereports.comRethinking journalism awardsEveryone loves to win awards. But what does it mean to reward good journalism?

17 Apr

In the latest #Backlight episode, @bearamalhosilva.bsky.social and @tpang.bsky.social talk to industry experts about what it means to reward good journalism. Listen to the episode: www.lighthousereports.com/rethinking-j...

lighthousereports.comHow to report on SudanUsing OSINT and on-the-ground reporting to uncover atrocities in Sudan

18 Feb

“We’re like memory workers. It’s a way to rehumanize those who were killed and also to stop, pay attention and give an event its full meaning.” Sabrina Slipchencko, Digital Reporter, Lighthouse Reports.